Many of the services Americans take for granted are provided by churches and Christian organizations. It is not hyperbolic to say that core areas of American life would languish or collapse without the contributions of Christian people and organizations. These enormous social contributions are frequently underappreciated, but would certainly be missed.

Perhaps the most important is health care. John Stonestreet, president of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview, wrote in an article titled “No Christianity, No Hospitals: Don’t Take Christian Contributions for Granted”:

One in six hospital beds in our country is located in a Catholic hospital. In at least thirty communities, the Catholic hospital is the only hospital in a 35-mile radius. This doesn’t even take into account hospitals run by other Christian bodies such as Baptists, Methodists, and especially Seventh-Day Adventists.

Catholic hospitals are the largest single category within non-profit hospitals, which themselves account for about half of all hospitals.

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At a lecture once in my college Catholic center, our priest said that if laws required Catholic agencies to place children in same-sex households, the church should suspend its adoption placements entirely. What about the children who won’t get placed in homes, I asked? Can the church sacrifice real people for its own survival? Of course it can, he explained; it is more important to preserve the integrity of the church for the future, because it is the church’s moral and spiritual integrity which inspires it to do social good in the first place. That argument may not be watertight, but it is one Christians must grapple with.

Orthodox Christians in America have gotten into the habit of bemoaning their inexorably shrinking political power and the rising hostility to religious freedom. But they actually possess enormous political power: the ability to grind to a halt the health care, educational, and social services infrastructure of the United States. Will they use it?

The first Catholic health-care sharing ministry, CMF CURO, launched in Washington, D.C., Thursday night at the Catholic Information Center, just blocks from the White House. Teaming up with veteran Samaritan Ministries International, it’s a Christian community solving some of the conscience problems that have arisen in health care in recent years. And it’s not just a response to Obamacare’s Department of Health and Human Services abortion-drug, contraceptive, and sterilization mandate, or even to Obamacare itself. It’s a response to a medical culture that increasingly is not centered on the human person and his dignity. This community model seeks to be a radically different approach to health care and insurance, fostering solidarity in prayer and practice.

Christians have always been foundational to health care in America (think of the Catholic religious sisters who have built and staffed hospitals throughout American history!), and this is an example of men and women of all vocations stepping up to the leadership plate.

In an interview with National Review Online, the co-founders of CMF CURO, David Wilson and Mike O’Dea (who is also executive director of the Christus Medicus Foundation), and director Louis Brown talk about what it is, how it works, and why it is such an important development. – Kathryn Jean Lopez

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[Mike O’Dea, executive director of the Christus Medicus Foundation]: CMF CURO is for all active and practicing Catholics and Christians, but may be especially beneficial to the uninsured, independent contractors, the self-employed, and small-business owners. The ministry is also an option for individuals seeking affordable care or wanting to supplement other coverage, and employees seeking to opt out of their employer plan. I would also say that CMF CURO is an option for individuals seeking an alternative to the federally funded exchanges, and those seeking Christ-centered Medicare gap coverage. It is for all those who understand that the best, most fulfilling health care is Christ-centered health care.

The costs to join look to be identical to that of Samaritan, $180 a month for an individual over age 25 and $405 for a two-parent family (here are the details on how much it costs to join CMF CURO).

This is probably some of the best news that I’ve heard in a while regarding alternatives to conventional health insurance. While it was always possible that a new ministry could be started, its members would not have received the same exemption from Obamacare’s tax on being uninsured that members of the existing ministries did. By partnering with Samaritan, the Christ Medicus Foundation has found a way to provide a sharing option for members of the Catholic faith who could not in good conscience sign on to the statements of faith required by the other ministries.

I’m hopeful that there will be more good news down the road along these lines, as I’ve also heard from someone else that is attempting to put together a Catholic-specific sharing option embedded in one of the existing ministries. Until then, if you’re Catholic and looking for a way to stay true to your faith while still having a way to pay for major medical bills if they arise, I hope you’ll check out CMF CURO!

Today [October 2, 2014] at the National Press Club at 12pm in the Zenger Room, the Catholic 501(c)(3) non-profit Christ Medicus Foundation is announcing the creation of CMF CURO (www.cmfcuro.com), a Catholic Living Health Care Ministry. CMF CURO is a member-representative to Samaritan Ministries International (“Samaritan” or “SMI”), offering Catholics the first Catholic health sharing ministry. Headquartered in Troy, Michigan, CMF CURO is being launched to provide Catholics and all people of faith with affordable access to medical care that protects their religious liberty and the Gospel of Life based on Catholic teaching.

Over 300,000 Americans are members of health sharing ministries nationwide and they share over 200 million in health care costs per year according to the Alliance for Health Care Sharing Ministries (http://www.healthcaresharing.org/hcsm/). Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), members of health sharing ministries in existence prior to 1999 are exempt from the ACA’s individual mandate. CMF CURO provides Catholics an affordable alternative to secular medical insurance that is consistent with Catholic teaching, allowing Catholics to protect their religious liberty and their individual right of conscience.